S Scholar
Solakzade Muhammed Sadik Efendi Religious scholar and mufti of Erzurum; one of the leading men of religion in Erzurum during the years of the National Struggle. He came from a learned family known in Erzurum as the "Solakzade", which after the Surname Law took the surname Solakbay . He was born in Erzurum into a wealthy and cultivated family. His father was the mufti of Erzurum, Muhammed Hamid Efendi; his grandfather was Solakzade Ahmed Tevfik Efendi , known in Erzurum as "the Great Hoca". Ahmed Tevfik Efendi's father, Hacı Lutfullah Ağa, held and threw the stick with his left hand in the javelin (cirit) games and so was called "Solak" (left-handed), whence the family name Solakzade. Opinions differ on his date of birth; but since he states in a note in his own hand that he was eleven when his grandfather died on 27 Sha'ban 1313 (12 February 1896), it follows that he was born in 1885. His first teacher was one Salih Efendi, with whom he learned to read the Qur'an. As a boy he attended the lessons of his grandfather, honorary professor at the İbrahim Paşa Madrasa; after his death he joined the circle of his father, who became professor at the same madrasa, and received his licence (ijaza) from him. In 1910 he was appointed drafting clerk of fatwas in Erzurum; when his father died in 1913 he succeeded him as mufti of Erzurum, also took over the professorship of the İbrahim Paşa Madrasa, and taught religion in the idadi and rüşdiye schools. In the First World War, when the Russians occupied Erzurum on 16 February 1916, he left the city with his family; after staying for a while in Kayseri and Konya he went to Istanbul, taught at the Darülhilafe Madrasa and took part in the work of the Darülhikmetil-İslamiye. He returned to Erzurum on the last day of 1917; in the ruined city he fought against the Armenian bands and urged the people not to emigrate. After the Armistice of Mudros (30 October 1918) he was among the founders of the Society for the Defence of the National Rights of the Eastern Provinces, established on 3 March 1919, and helped Kâzım Karabekir Paşa ensure that the weapons were not handed over to the British. He attended the Erzurum Congress , convened on 23 July 1919, as an observer. In answer to a fatwa of Şeyhülislam Dürrizade Abdullah Efendi, he took the fatwa issued on 17 April 1920 by the mufti of Ankara, Rifat Efendi (Börekçi), and the muftis of the surrounding districts in defence of the conformity of the national movement in Anatolia with the sacred law, made the necessary corrections under the supervision of a scholarly board, signed it and sent it to the Ankara Mufti's Office on 19 April 1920. When Kâzım Karabekir Paşa declared mobilisation on 7 June 1920, he had the great mosque of Erzurum emptied and placed it at the disposal of the command as a depot; on 11 June 1920 he saw to the distribution of thousands of proclamations calling on the people to support the Eastern Front, and led the collection of aid from the people for the front. In 1921 he was among the founders of the Society for the Protection of the Sacred Values and the Defence of Rights, established under the presidency of Hoca Raif Efendi against the growing Bolshevik propaganda. In these years he taught in various madrasas and trained many students; he opened the Erzurum Darülhilafe Madrasa with a modern curriculum and served there as administrator and teacher. After the proclamation of the Republic he worked on rebuilding the mosques, masjids and madrasas of Erzurum ruined during the occupation. He kept up the tradition of completing the Qur'an by expounding it in sermons: after finishing the reading inherited from his grandfather and father, he completed it twice more from the pulpit of the Lala Mustafa Paşa Mosque, and did not live to finish the third. In 1937 he revived the "thousand and one completions" tradition, begun by one Pir Ali Baba, which had become a religious custom in Erzurum and had been interrupted by the First World War and the National Struggle. He died on 3 July 1960 and was buried in the family plot in the Asri Cemetery of Erzurum. The source entry states that its author also drew on notes written in the scholar's own hand and on information he gave in person. His Poetry and Sufi Line — He is presented as a scholar who knew the religious sources well, fought superstition and false beliefs, and was intelligent and far-sighted. He knew Arabic and Persian well enough to write poetry in them; he loved poetry and literature and adorned his sermons and conversations with verse. He composed some riddles (muamma) and qasidas, especially on love. Besides philosophy and logic he had a broad knowledge of the religious sciences. His Works — He valued training students more than writing books. Three unpublished works are recorded: Muhadhdhab al-matalib fi al-fara'id , Dinî Yönden Coğrafya (Geography from the Religious Viewpoint) and Tasavvurat ve Tasdikat Üzerine Bir Şerh (A Commentary on Concepts and Judgements).
Died 1380 AH View → 